Saying YES!
Hello Friends!!
Welcome to my blog!!
I hope to share with you what’s happening in my life and heart and also document some of the amazing moments along the way. This is my 56th year of life and my 35th year as a Christ follower and I finally decided it’s time to stop hiding and being afraid and say “YES” to the things God puts on my heart. It always amazes me when I see how God meets me in my tiny efforts with an explosion of His love and purpose, turning them in to something more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. That’s what’s been happening over here lately!!!
The last year has been ONE of the more difficult years in my life, but in a way that is completely different from previous ones. We walked through so many changes and challenges and saw the faithfulness of God in a whole new way. I learned so much, cried a lot, forgot some things I should have remembered, lost some things I never thought I would, fought hard for peace, and tasted a victory never before experienced. This year, as I prayed and journaled about it, I felt God speak to me to begin writing again and find my voice to share my story.
Today, I am about to walk into one of my YES moments. The first one was when my Pastor’s wife, Amy asked me to share a little bit of my testimony on a short video to be shared at our women’s conference. Ordinarily, I would have politely declined and then secretly wished I had the courage to step out. This time, I said yes, and that was the true beginning of this new adventure. I didn’t cry, I didn’t stutter, and it was kind of fun! So I did it again, live, with a microphone in front of actual people. I know it doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, for a lot of people I’m sure it isn’t. But for this person…it was huge.
In the freedom that came with the YES, I considered an opportunity to apply for a spot on a trip to Rwanda with a team from IF Gathering and Africa New Life. The trip was limited to 20 women selected from an offering made at their conference and over the internet. I have no idea how many applications were submitted, but with Jim’s encouragement, I decided to apply and see if that’s what God had for me. I think he was more excited about it that I was at first, the whole idea was a little scary to me. My first missions trip was just last August with Jim and Kaybrie and a team of youth and leaders from our church. We went to Hungary and worked with a local church in a small town called Kompolt. It was wonderful, life changing, eye opening and all of the things you hear about missions trips. Being there made us think of travel in a different way and had us wondering about the next trip offering and how we would participate. I think I just assumed we would always go together and the idea of Africa was one I wasn’t really ready to consider yet. But God, as we say…and then came the email inviting me to be one of the team.
Rwanda is a small but densely populated country nestled in East Africa. Most people have heard about the violence of the 1994 Genocide. Now, over 20 years later, Rwanda continues to demonstrate to the world the power of reconciliation and forgiveness.
The trip is with a non-profit called Africa New Life Ministries (ANLM). ANLM is a child sponsorship organization that provides a comprehensive level of care to the students, ministering to both physical and spiritual needs as well as focusing on the communities at large.
My trip dates are June 1-11, 2018. The days we are in Rwanda will involve visiting the four communities in which ANLM operates: Kigali, Kayonza, Bugesera, and Kageyo. We’re excited to sponsor a student from the Kigali community. Her name is Ella, she is 8 years old and has the same birthday as our Sicily! On the trip, I will have the opportunity to meet her and her family during one of the home visits! I believe that short term trips create a unique opportunity for people from different cultures to engage with and learn from one another. Entering into another culture helps us better understand how Christ is working in the Global Church and helps us to get out of our American attitude of excess and self-centeredness.
I invite you into this experience with me. Please pray… both for the ministries in Rwanda as well as my team. Pray that we may be good listeners and learners. I also invite you to prayerfully consider financially supporting me on this trip. I have a plaque hanging in my dining room that says; The will of God will not take you where the grace of God will not protect you. I truly believe this and I have seen it in my life in ways that defy the logic of the how my natural thinking would interpret this statement. I also believe that protection is not just physical. Jim and I agreed that the YES for this trip was from God. At the same time we were also concerned about making it happen financially in the aftermath of the challenges of 2017 (more on that later). That is why I decided to post this link to the fund raising page where donations will be applied to my account until the final payment is due May 18th. Of course you are welcome to sponsor your own child, donate to the ministry itself at any time and follow the progress of all they are doing to make a difference in the lives of the Rwandan people. Most of what I want to share here is personal and spiritual and has nothing at all to do with talking about mere money. It’s about things so much more important than that. So here is the link, if you will….but honestly, I would just love to know you are praying for us…that is the most important thing. I am also posting a link to a few books we are reading in preparation for the trip, in case anyone is interested in the history of the genocide from a personal perspective as well as some challenging ideas about what is true about helping impoverished people versus what we Americans typically think.
Thanks for reading and caring...until next time!!
At the bottom of the page, click on “Mission Team Members” and scroll to my name…Jeanne Moore
To read:
Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza
When Helping Hurts How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett
I’m onboard as a follower. : )
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